Thursday, 29 July 2010

... after finishing DD2's dress yesterday I got straight on with making DD1's (well I didn't want any trantrums!) Despite my sewing machine deciding to throw a wobbly with its tension (I lost count of how may times I unpicked the bias binding straps) I got it finished before bedtime.

And here are the dresses with their proud owners (DD2 would't be photographed with DD1!)

They're a bit shorter than I would have liked and a snuggish fit so not sure if they'll still fit next year. Nevertheless I'm pleased with my efforts.

Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Have also got round to making the girl's summer dresses - bought the fabric about 3 months ago! This is DD2's and I'm worried it looks a bit small, shan't know till she gets home later as they're both at a dance workshop. It's been a while since I cut out the pieces so I just hope that DD1's are bigger!

The dress is almost identical to ones I bought from Boden a few years ago. The fabric is Darla Rose by Tanya Whelan which I believe can now be bought in Hobbycraft!

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

I have been feeling really guilty that my Scarlet Lime kits have been piling up (especially since I started subscribing to their Frugal kit aswell) and so today (whilst recovering from a tummy bug) I sat down armed with a pile of sketches and started to scrap!

They might not be my best work or win any prizes, but it was the process of scrapping that was really important to me. I decided to make one LO from each kit (I've got 6 untouched).

April Kit and Twisted Sketches sketch

June Frugal kit and Twisted Sketches sketch June kit May kit and PageMaps sketch

Saturday, 24 July 2010

... before I post about my marvellous trip to Barcelona, I want to share this lovely story with you.

On Saturday night we ended up in a cocktail bar that we had read about in the guidebooks - Dry Martini. After a gin and tonic (him) and a mojito (me) we sat at the bar and ordered a couple of Dry Martinis (well it would be rude not to seeing as though that was what they were famous for). We then got chatting to an American couple sat next to us. They were on a small tour of Europe as he was a Professor of Architure and she was a Food and Drink writer (we didn't talk long enough to exchange names!!). Anyway we had a lovely conversation and evitably my birthday celebration came up and we talked about the girls. They were following a similar story to mine and DH's - been together 10 years, finally got married and now celebrating their 1st anniversary were thinking about starting a family.

DH and I ordered a couple more mojitos whilst the Americans were settling their bill and a few minutes later the bar tender announced that they had settled our bar bill also (probably about £25). How amazing and generous - they simply wanted to wish me a happy birthday! They said their goodbyes and went on their way.

I so intend to pay this forward, it is not often that you come across such selfless acts of kindness in this day and age and it left me with such a warm, fuzzy feeling!

For the record though I don't like Dry Martinis and will be sticking to the mojitos!

Friday, 9 July 2010

... so on weds 14th July I will turn 40. I'm not at all bothered by that fact, I love birthdays and so it's an excuse to get extra spolit!Tomorrow I'm having a party at home with friends and after seeing this bunting on the lovely Lizzie's blog the garden is going to look fab (thank you Mr Weather for a good forecast).

On my actual birthday my dad, stepmum and sister are coming to visit and I'm looking forward to a delicious lunch out with great company. The girls have got the day off school, so I shall have my.wonderful family around me.

Then on Friday SH and I are off to Barcelona for the weekend sans children - yipee!

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

... it feels like a lifetime ago since I last posted. I have been on a rollercoaster ride and life has been quite stressful. I'm slowly returning to normality and hoping to start scrapping again (I have a mountain of kits piling up!)

I signed up to do Shimelle's Love your photos, love your pages new class and I'm hoping that will help my mojo! Prompt 1 was to take a photo of something you love, which at the moment is these sunflowers in my garden. Taken on my Android phone with the vignette app.

Next week is a big week for me - a milestone birthday, so I will try and post about the festivities!